774 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 594. 



and to the physical sciences. The elements 

 of the calculus were, however, not intro- 

 duced, even optionally, nor was there an 

 increase in the small amount of analytic 

 geometry to be given in the last year of the 

 course ; on the contrary, the option was in- 

 troduced of proving synthetically instead 

 of analytically such properties of the conic 

 sections as might be taken up. In the cur- 

 ricula of 1901, the ground to be covered in 

 the last two years is stated without speci- 

 fying the portion to be taken up in each 

 of the years. This would seem to leave it 

 to the discretion of the teacher to determine 

 at what point in the last two years the idea 

 of coordinates should be taken up, but a 

 remark in the general instructions seems 

 to indicate that it is expected that it be 

 taken up in the last year of the course, as 

 formerly. 



While questions relative to the teaching 

 of mathematics were thus being vigorously 

 agitated, a no less vigorous agitation was 

 taking place relative to the teaching of the 

 natural sciences. During the last decade 

 the large and influential Association of 

 German Natural Scientists and Physicians 

 has given extended consideration to these 

 questions. At the annual session held in 

 Hamburg in 1901, a joint meeting of the 

 sections for botany, zoology, mineralogy 

 and geology, and anatomy and physiology, 

 over one hundred members present, unan- 

 imously adopted a set of nine propositions 

 relative to instruction in biology. These 

 nine propositions soon became generally 

 known as the ' Hamburg Theses, ' and read 

 as follows : 



1. Biology is an experiential science which in- 

 deed goes as far as well-grounded knowledge of 

 nature will at the time allow, but no further. 

 {Die Biologie ist eine Erfahrungswissenschaft 

 die zwar his zur jeweiligen Orenze des sicheren 

 Naturerkennens geht, aher dieselbe nicht iiber- 

 schreitet.) For metaphysical speculations, biol- 

 ogy as such has no responsibility and the school 

 no use. 



. 2. Formally, instruction in the natural sciences 

 is the necessary complement of the abstract sub- 

 jects. In particular, biology teaches the art, 

 elsewhere so neglected, of observation of concrete 

 objects subject to continual change in consequence 

 of the processes of life, and, like physics and chem- 

 istry, proceeds inductively from observation of 

 properties and processes, to the logical formation 

 of concepts. 



3. As to content, instruction in natural history 

 has the duty of acquainting the growing youth 

 with the most essential forms of the organic 

 world, to discuss the manifold phenomena of life, 

 to present the relations of organisms to inorganic 

 nature, to each other and to man, and to give a 

 survey of the most important periods of the earth's 

 history. Upon the basis of the biologic knowledge 

 acquired, the structure of the human body and the 

 functions of its organs, together with the chief 

 points of general hygiene, deserve special at- 

 tention. 



4. Ethically, biologic instruction awakens re- 

 spect for the structures of the organic world, an 

 appreciation of the beauty and completeness of 

 nature as a whole, and thus becomes a source of 

 the purest enjoyment, untouched by any of the 

 practical interests of life. At the same time, 

 he who busies himself with the vital phenomena 

 of nature is led to feel the incompleteness of hu- 

 man knowledge, and to recognize his own limita- 

 tions. 



5. Such knowledge of the organic world must 

 be regarded as necessary part of the general 

 culture which the times demand; it is not only 

 useful to the future natural scientist or physician 

 as preparation for his professional study, but is 

 equally important for those graduates of the sec- 

 ondary schools whose future occupation does not 

 directly require study of nature. 



The remaining four theses relate more 

 specifically to German conditions, pointing 

 out that under the present curricula bio- 

 logic study is excluded from the later years 

 of the course, in which years alone the 

 pupil is sufSciently mature to understand 

 what is taught of the processes of life and 

 the influence of environment; demanding 

 that biologic instruction should be given, 

 say two hours weekly, throughout the nine 

 years of the school course; and making 

 some specific proposals whereby it is 

 thought this can be accomplished. 



